Feeding- paper to printietor-presses



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MOSES S. BEACH, OF BROOKLYN, NEWT YORK.

FEEDING PAPER T0 PRINTING-PRESSES.

Specification of Letters Patent No.

To all whom it 'may concern: y

Be it known that I, Moses S. BEACH, of the city of Brooklyn, in thecounty of Kings and State of New York, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Printing- Presses; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a fulland eXact description thereof.

The nature of my invention consists in the construction and applicationto the im pression cylinders or some other part of Napier or othersimilar flat bed printing presses, or to type-revolving presses; of animprovement in the fingers, and the' contrivances for operating them;.by which the sheet of paper is so seized and returned to the types asecond time, as to print it upon both sides at a single operation, andwithout checking or interfering with the regular and usual motions ofthe press, in all and any of its parts.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I willproceed to describe its construction and operation, reference being hadto the annexed drawings, forming part of this specification.

Figures I, II, III, IV, ,in the drawings, represent a vertical sectiono-f the cylinder, through the red line Z, Z, Fig. V; showing the mannerin which the sheet is seized at one end and drawn into the press (Fig.I) and allowed to pass out, (Fig. II) in the Y first instance, and whilebeing thus printed on the first side, seized at the opposite or tailend, (Fig. III) and, by the revolution of the cylinder, drawn in again,(Fig. IV) printed on the second side, and then discharged completed.Single red lines in these figures show the different positions of thepaper while passing through and re turning-a number of parallel straightred lines in each figure indicating the position represent the inside ofone of the side 16,138, dma December a, 185e.

frames, (N) with the various wheels at the positions necessary inproducing the motions indicated in Figs. I, II, and IV; and Fig. VIIIthe inside of the other side frame (O) corresponding in the same waywith Fig. III. All the wheels and mechanisms shown in these fourfigures, are connected with the side frames on which they arerepresented, except only the center cog wheels l and e which belong tothe main shaft, I), and the finger cranks K and L which belong to thefinger shafts F and Gr and move with the cylinder.

In these several figures A is the cylinder; B the feed board-an inclinedshelf from which the sheets Aare first placed within reach of thefingers-and C, tape pulleys connected by endless tapes; the use of whichis to press the sheet against the cylinderthe line of motion here aselsewhere in the drawings being indicated by arrows.

D and E, are twin fingers attached to i twin shafts F and G, which arefixed, one within the other. A detached view of these fingers and theirattachment to the shafts, is given in parts l and 2 of Fig. I: The shaftG is threequarters cut away at the point where the fingers E areattached, to allow the necessary motion to the fingers D.

H are friction rollers, connected together by a shaft passing through,and near the face side of the lingers D. They are pressed by spiralsprings I, in the fingers I), (acting upon the shaft which connectsthem) upon the cams J. These cams, which are cut into and form part ofthe twin shaft G, are of such shape as, when acted upon by the rollers,IFI, connected with the other twin shaft (F) to cause the twin fingers,D and E, to hug together when placed near each other, and to spread openas far as their shaft connections will admit, when opened apart morethan 90 degrees. The dotted lines a show recesses in the cylinder forreceiving the fingers when laid back.

K is a crank placed on one end of the twin shaft F, on one end of thecylinder, and L is a similar crank on shaft G, on the opposite end ofthe cylinder. These cranks are made with tripping points, b,- the crankK, being also provided with a small button, o. Parts 3 and 4, Fig. V,are detached representations of these cranks, showing their connectionswith the twin shafts F and Gr and with the twin fingers D and E.

IVI are the bearings of the twin shafts F, G; N and O, the two sideframes; P the main shaft of the cylinder, to which the motive power isapplied, and fixed to which are the cogwheels d and e.

Q is a stationary shield or guard, projecting from the side frame N,over the buttonV c, on finger crank K, to prevent the fingers fromjumping or leaving their proper positions. It is provided with a slot f,into which the button c, is thrown at every third revolution of thecylinder, by the cam g, which is fixed to the cogwheel R, that wheelbeing moved by the main shaft cogwheel d. The revolution of the cylinderwhile the button is in this slot produces the finger motion seen in Fig.I. To prevent the tingers E, from rising to meet the fingers D; (Figs. Iand VI) by the action of the cam, friction rollers and springs,connected with them; astationary shield S, is fixed to frame O, whichprojects over finger-crank L, and retains it in its place.

T is a movable tripping pin, held in place by and sliding through theside frame N.

It is projected on the inside sufficiently to catch the tripping pointof the finger crank K, and produce the motion indicated in Figs. II andVII) by the spiral spring la; and when not required for that purpose, ispressed back through the frame by the cam z', on the inside of cog wheelU, acting upon and in connection with the lever y'. I-Iere, as in Figs.I and VI, it becomes necessary to prevent the fingers E from rising withthe fingers D, and this is eEected by the movable shield V, (Fig. VIII)worked the same as the tripping pin, by two spiral springs and a lever,7c, in connection with the cam, Z, on the inside of cog wheel, W, which,when needed, is made to project` over the finger-crank L while itrecedes and allows the crank and fingers to turn by the power applied tothe crank K, to effect the motion required in Figs. IV and IX. The nextmotion-seizing the tail end of the sheet (Fig. IID-is produced at theother end of the cylinder, as seen in Fig. VIII, by another tripping pinX, similar to the pin T, acted upon by spiral spring m, and lever n; thelever being moved by the cam, 0, on the inside of cog wheel Y.

The motion indicated in Figs. IV and IX is producedby the button c, onfinger crank K, catching into and traveling through the moving slot ortrack p, which is fixed to the outside of cog wheel U,-this cog wheelreceiving its motion from the main shaft cog wheel d, through thegearing wheels g, and r. In this instance the fingers E and their crankL, being left at liberty by the recesretained, is made to assume theposition originally held by the irst or head end, and the sheet iscarried around the second time with the reversed side to the type, afterwhich it is finally discharged as seen in Figs. I and VI.

In these drawings it will be seen that provision is made for taking anew sheet at every third revolution of the impression cylinder, which isas frequently as it can be done. This may be varied to suit therequirement of the Ipress on Lwhich my improvement is to be placed,either by increasing the size of the cam wheels R, U, W', Y, or byreducing that of the main shaft cog wheels, d, c. n

To make use of my invention, as thus far described, it is necessary thatthe impression cylinder .be of such diameter as will conform to the sizeof the sheet to be printed; but, to avoid this necessity, the twinlingers may be placed upon a second cylinder, or its equivalent,adjusted at any desired distance from the impression cylind-er, withwhich it is geared to run, and the sheet, after being printed on thefirst side in the usual way may be passed to this second cylinder, andits ends changed, as I have described, by means of -my improved lingers;-and then returned to the impression cylinder there to be printed uponthe second side also, in the usual way. This contrivance will admit theuse of any sized sheet within the capacity of the press itself, and itmay be applied to presses already constructed more readily than the onerepresented in the annexed drawings. In either case, however, the sheetchanges its motion by the same process; and as it is subject to norestraints from confinement between tapes or otherwise, while sochanging, the paper escapes all liability to be torn or thrown out ofregister, and the ink, by the free exposure to the air is greatlyassisted in setting or fixing itself to the paper.

It has, for many years, been a leading object, particularly among thepublishers of newspapers of extended circulation, and power pressmanufacturers, to cont-rive a method for printing both sides of thesheet at a single operation which, at the same time should not retard orin any wise interrupt the high rate of speed already attained inprinting, nor complicate the machinery of the press. My inventionaccomplishes this much-desired end, almost without eX- lpense, andaccomplishes it so completely and simply that it seems to leave nothingmore to be wished for in the field which it occupies. It is peculiarlyapplicable, moreover, to book printing, because of the perfect registerWhich it must afford, and opens to that kind of Work the use of the mostrapid presses, all of Which have heretofore Inail-man, and the carrier,before they leave the press.

I do not, however, claim the printing of sheets on both sides at oneoperation but y What I do claim as my invention and desire to secure byLetters Patent, is

Seizing the back or tail end of the sheet, and thus returning it to thetypes for a second impression; in the manner, substantially, as setforth.

M. S. BEACH. Witnesses EDGAR W. DAvIEs, J. HOLLANDER.

